Officials say Coliseum project approvals could take years

Despite the eagerness of developers to get started and a claim that their plan to redevelop 66 acres surrounding the Nassau Coliseum adheres to current zoning, Hempstead officials caution that the town still needs to take an in-depth look at the project, a process that could take a couple of years.

After the CEOs of RXR Realty and BSE Global presented a preliminary vision last month of their $1.5 billion plan to remake the Uniondale site, the development team claimed it could begin construction within a year.

RXR CEO Scott Rechler told LIBN last month that the proposed project, which would bring 500 units of housing, 600,000 square feet of office space, 200,000 square feet of restaurants and retail and a new hotel, meets the town’s low-density zoning for the property and “will not need to go back into the town for zoning or variances.”

However, town officials beg to differ, citing that any plan for the Coliseum property must come back to the town for an extensive review. They also point out that the town’s current zoning, enacted in 2011, contains specific restrictions that might run counter to portions of BSE’s and RXR’s proposal.

“All of this speculation that this is a done deal is entirely premature,” says Hempstead Councilwoman Erin King Sweeney.

In one example of the limitations in the site’s zoning, the code caps multifamily housing on the Coliseum property to just six units per building. That would require 84 separate buildings to accommodate the plan’s 500 units of housing. The zoning also limits the height of residential buildings on the site to three stories. So without a variance, new zoning or approval of a master plan that incorporates code changes, the housing would take up most of the 66-acre redevelopment site, allowing little room for anything else.

In addition to specific obstacles in the zoning, the approvals process itself is a long and winding road. Hempstead’s Mitchel Field Mixed-Use District requires the approval of a conceptual master plan, though one has yet to be filed with the town for the newly proposed project. Once the developers file their plan, officials say it could take about a year and a half to review it before it is put forward to the town board for consideration.

After it’s reviewed, the town board has to schedule at least one public hearing on the proposed development. If the master plan is approved by the board, then the application is referred back to the buildings department where it enters an extensive site-plan approval process, which would likely take several months. Besides buildings, additional town departments that would need to sign off on the plan include engineering, highways and water. The Nassau County Fire Marshal and other county agencies would also have to green light the plan.

Once the buildings department gives what’s known as 305 site-plan approval, the plan goes back to the town board for final site-plan approval. Separately, the conceptual master plan will likely also have to undergo a new state-mandated environmental review before it passes muster.

Senior Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby, whose district includes Uniondale and other communities that would be directly impacted by the project, said the plan approvals have to be done properly, so experts have the opportunity to peruse it.

“It’s going to have an effect on all the people who live around here,” Goosby told LIBN. “There’s a lot to think about and we have to get this right. I would advise the developer to come to the town as soon as possible.”

Rechler said he believes the approvals process can be sped up.

“I think there’s already been so much study of this site,” Rechler said, adding that he hopes to work with the town to streamline the process and possibly accelerate portions of the development. “Everyone wants to see this move ahead. It shouldn’t take two years. We want to streamline, but we don’t want to circumvent.”

Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale / Photo by David Winzelberg

Rechler has acknowledged that the project is very much dependent on the $85 million in state funds that have been promised to build new parking garages on the property. Though he said construction of the parking structures will likely determine the timetable of the rest of the plan, town officials insist nothing–not even the garages–can begin to be built before the entire plan is reviewed and approved.

Eric Alexander, director of Vision Long Island, said “it’s heartening to see progress at the Nassau Hub,” but he’s also advocating for revamping the town’s zoning for the site.

“To achieve the long-awaited vision of a walkable destination that complements the existing office, educational and entertainment uses in the area, changes to the Town of Hempstead code are desperately needed in the form of building setbacks, road widths and easing restrictions on residential development,” Alexander said. “The current code as written would recreate existing auto-oriented conditions as opposed to that of a world class destination.”

Meanwhile, some have questioned the anointment of RXR as a partner in the Coliseum redevelopment, when so many other firms were vying to be involved in the project. Though Nassau County had issued a request for expressions of interest to the development community in June and received more than a dozen responses, BSE asserted its right to redevelop the site as per its lease with the county. When asked why the county issued the RFEI anyway, Nassau spokesman Michael Martino said via email that “While BSE had the right to propose a development plan, they had not yet done so. The county wanted to move things along so we issued an RFEI to solicit ideas.”

Richard Nicolello, presiding officer of the Nassau Legislature, said the county’s selection of a developer seemed haphazard.

“I’m not sure why the county administration decided to go with an abbreviated process,” Nicolello said. “They’ll be questions about the process.”

Even before the town gets to begin its review of the Coliseum plan, the Nassau Legislature must approve amendments to the existing lease agreement to clear the way for BSE to partner with RXR on the redevelopment. A public hearing on the issue is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 27 in Mineola. After that, the matter goes to various legislative committees and could go to a vote before the full legislature on Dec. 17, its final session this year, according to Nicolello.

“My focus is on the merits of the project going forward,” he said. “If it makes sense, we’ll move it on to the next step.”

If the county approves the amendments to BSE’s Coliseum lease, the fate of plan will be placed squarely in the town’s hands.

“From the time the application is filed, it could reasonably take two years before a final decision is made by the board,” King Sweeney says. “I think that adherence to governmental process is incredibly important. At the Town of Hempstead, nothing should be taken for granted.”

3 comments

This project will never get done UNLESS the laws are thrown out. The laws, codes and studies were all put in place to stop development. How many plans have been drawn up, thrown out because of all of the jurisdictions. Nassau, TOH, State environmental. Nothing ever gets done on LI because of this non-sense. It has been and will ever be a parking lot. Stop wasting time with beautiful drawing and computer simulations because until someone like Robert Moses comes in with the authority to blow this up and say this is getting done, it will be one delay after another until the developers walk away.